Love's Abuse

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Love's Abuse Page 12

by Flynn Eire


  Can Dimitri move on from the one that owns his heart or is there something worth fighting for?

  * * *

  Shifters for Sale: SeXlection 1

  The Cost of Happiness Isn’t Always Money

  Born a slave, Joss grew up alone, uneducated, unloved, and dreading the day he turned eighteen and began servicing those who came to the brothel. It’s a horrible life for the cat shifters who have no rights and aren’t even seen as people. The only highlight is the massive parties the brothels throw once every few months to draw in potential buyers.

  Joss is about to give up the dream of finding a permanent owner—the hope of every slave. But then the mystery man in the white mask buys him, turning his world upside down. While Joss should hate that, all he wants is to make Dencil happy and solve the man’s problems. Will the cost of Joss’s help be more than he can handle?

  * * *

  Recapturing the Illusion: Open Ended Voyage 1

  Not Available Through Your Travel Agent

  After six years of never going anywhere, nor getting time to do what he wants, Jonah Mendel is taking a vacation. Needing time away from his demanding job and boss, he decides to finally lose his virginity… Fine, he isn’t a virgin but after a six year dry spell it feels like it.

  What better way than a two week, exclusive, invitation only cruise where giving fantasies is their forte?

  Part of Whistler Maddos’s job as first mate of the Open Ended is to ensure every guest receives what they are promised. And for Jonah that is the time of his life. But Whistler can’t help wanting Jonah as well… Good thing both desires aren’t mutually exclusive.

  While making sure the ship and all the extracurricular activities aboard run smoothly, Whistler focuses on teaching Jonah all about paranormal, learning what else there is to life outside of the office, exploring his sexuality, and about Jonah himself. On what was supposed to be a vacation to remember, not everything turns out sunsets and roses.

  When they not only hit rough water but never ending storms at high seas, how far will they go to be together? And will Jonah even be able to survive Whistler’s tutelage without sacrificing who he is?

  Or A Different Genre…

  The Turning: Dr. Kelly Murphy 1

  One Bite Can Change Everything

  Graduate medical school, start competitive internship, don’t get cut from the program, become a surgeon. It was a great plan. One Kelly Murphy loved and had dreamed of most of her life… And it was blown to hell in a night with an uninvited bite.

  Now she’s missing three days of her life, trying to handle her freaked out best friend and parents who called the police when she went missing, all as she realizes she’s not the same person she was before. She’s different. Like has fangs different.

  When he shows up on her doorstep claiming to know what happened to her, Kelly’s not sure that makes things any less confusing. But at least he can guide her, right? Either way, she has a plan and a choice she didn’t make won’t stop her… Even if she might have the urge to bite her patients from now on.

  * * *

  Accidentally Wolf: Seraphine Thomas 1

  Gives New Meaning To Workplace Injury

  Special Agent in Charge, Seraphine Thomas, lives for her job at the FBI. One of the youngest female agents with her own team, she thrives in undercover work to make the city she loves safer. But Sera’s on-track life is thrown into chaos when she’s attacked during a bust gone bad and is left figuring out what it means to be a werewolf.

  Right away, she learns that she’s more powerful and able to do things that she shouldn’t be able to do so quickly after her transition. The rules of her old life don’t seem to apply to much now that she’s a shifter, and knowing who she can trust is even more complicated.

  When she’s transferred to a special branch of the FBI made up of paranormals policing others of their kind and given a promotion, things start looking up—until her abnormal level of power creates a list of enemies for her before she’s even learned who her allies are.

  * * *

  Wounded: In My Dreams 1

  Authors Dream Of Their Happiness Too

  Gas station coffee is the highlight of Lily Slone’s boring outing until fate intervenes… Along with the barrel of a gun and a lost soldier who saves her life.

  Jasper Huton—a homeless Marine, discarded by his family after returning home from the war wounded—reacted on instinct. But this one act brings him to Lily’s attention, and not because he saves her life. She sees something else in him. Something no one else sees.

  Refusing to give up on him when everyone else does, Lily offers Jasper a place to stay and an opportunity to get back on his feet. That one offer will change her world. When they grow closer and Jasper makes Lily’s life so much easier, she’s not sure she can go back to living without him.

  As life moves forward and they get into their own rhythm, Lily discover something about Jasper that he’s kept hidden. Will she continue to reach for her happily ever after or will they both remain wounded?

  Sneak Peek: Accidentally Wolf

  (Seraphine Thomas 1)

  Special Agent in Charge, Seraphine Thomas, lives for her job at the FBI. One of the youngest female agents with her own team, she thrives in undercover work to make the city she loves safer. But Sera's on-track life is thrown into chaos when she's attacked during a bust gone bad and is left figuring out what it means to be a werewolf.

  Right away, she learns that she’s more powerful and able to do things that she shouldn’t be able to do so quickly after her transition. The rules of her old life don’t seem to apply to much now that she’s a shifter, and knowing who she can trust is even more complicated.

  When she’s transferred to a special branch of the FBI made up of paranormals policing others of their kind and given a promotion, things start looking up—until her abnormal level of power creates a list of enemies for her before she’s even learned who her allies are.

  1

  “Hold your positions until Thomas gives the go,” Agent Frank commanded in our earpieces. “We need her to give us a visual of Bernard before we move in.”

  There were two local SWAT teams joining our FBI one for this raid. I had been working this case for over nine months to get us to this point. Infiltrating potentially one of the last mob families left me completely on my own. The risk of being exposed had been too great for any support. Every meeting, every buy, had been without backup or a safety net. It felt strange to have one again.

  I took a deep breath, smoothed out the glossy leather material of my tight black skirt and headed inside the abandoned warehouse. Normally I wouldn’t have been caught dead in this kind of outfit—one that left so little to the imagination. For Pete’s sake, the slit almost went all the way up to my hip, but I had to play the part. No matter how hard it was at times.

  This case had left me more frazzled than any other of my career. Not because I was having trouble fitting into Chicago’s underworld, but because it seemed to come easily to me. Since I was one of the good guys, I found that slightly disturbing.

  Walking into the warehouse, every cell in my body was on high alert. I detected the faintest crunch as my stiletto boots came in contact with the thin film of dirt covering the concrete floor. I inhaled the scent of rotting wood, dust, and a hint of perspiration. Then I observed the group of men standing in the building’s center, their beefy bodies slightly obscuring the large crates behind them.

  “So nice of you to join us, Ms. Penar,” Bernard greeted loudly, running his ring-covered hand through his slicked-back, thick red hair as I walked closer to the group. “I was beginning to get annoyed at your tardiness.”

  Bernard Dorcus was a bad guy with a capital B. We weren’t sure yet if he had any mob ties because so far everything we had said he was an independent contractor. But the families weren’t known for letting other criminals on their turf. Unless maybe he supplied them. That was what we were trying to find out as well as where he go
t his product.

  Right now, we did know that he was a facilitator. Anything someone needed off the black market—Bernard could get it. And that didn’t fly with the FBI or me considering he was doing it in the city I loved.

  “A woman’s prerogative, of course,” I retorted, flawlessly slipping into my Eastern European accent, giving a bored flick of my long blonde hair. “You know I do not show myself until my boys make sure the meeting is clean and free of any men in blue. I am the brains of the operation. It keeps my lovely ass out of prison. Besides, I find all the testosterone needed while men show their dominance a bore.”

  “Yes, as you have stated before,” Bernard drawled, complete with an eye roll this time. He didn’t hide his annoyance well for such a trained businessman. “Can we get on with it already?”

  “Ah, so American,” I chuckled and clucked my tongue. “Skip the foreplay and go right for the sweet spot. As you wish.” I turned slightly and beckoned one of the men behind me with a gesture of my hand. “Milo, show the man the money.”

  Milo wasn’t FBI. None of the guys in my entourage were. They were muscle for hire, contacts I’d made years before on another undercover operation. This wasn’t the first time I’d used this alias, and the bureau had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure I would pass any background check.

  They were filled in at the last minute today. After being assured that they would receive immunity, they agreed to help with the plan. They weren’t squeaky clean, but they weren’t the bad guys either. Milo and his team might skirt the law, or intentionally look the other direction while something happened. We could have found something to charge them with, of that I was sure, but we needed their help to sell my cover.

  Bernard wouldn’t have just checked me out. Any gunrunner worth his salt would have run background checks on my entire crew. Milo and the rest of the hired muscle had the resumes I needed to make my story believable. They were too good to ever get caught doing anything illegal. The lot of them were ex-military turned mercenary as well as local enforcers.

  Of course, I’d checked them out as well. While they worked for nefarious guys on occasion, they didn’t have any criminal records. Milo and the others just weren’t regular bodyguards that Hollywood would hire, though really they fell under that job description. They simply didn’t ask questions normal bodyguards would like… Why are so many people after you? What’s in that case handcuffed to your wrist?

  That was why they worked in this situation and why we weren’t trying to arrest them as well. They weren’t the monsters in the room by any meaning of the word.

  I watched the exchange, Milo showing everyone the two cases full of three million dollars before Bernard revealed the weapons we were there to purchase. The bureau had wanted to get a sample of Bernard’s inventory, and, since gunrunners don’t just show the stock without putting in an order—we had to set up a buy so we could figure out the extent of his organization later to shut it down.

  After I confirmed Bernard was at the buy and the weapons were here, my job was to get Bernard’s men away from the weapons before giving the signal to the men outside.

  “My, my,” I cooed, walking over to the crates. “What lovely merchandise you have, Bernard.”

  “I’m glad you like, Ms. Penar.” He glanced impatiently at his gold, very expensive-looking watch. Right, because I’m sure he had some hot date waiting for him at home. Well, maybe if he bought her for the evening. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy with his tall stature, broad shoulders, and strong jaw, but he was slimy in a way that had nothing to do with his appearance. And his eyes were the coldest, most soulless things I’d ever seen.

  “Boys, a lady doesn’t like to be crowded,” I admonished Bernard’s men, who had closed in on me. I waited until they backed off before walking the rest of the distance to the weapons. Oh yeah, we had hit the mother lode.

  It was scary the amount of weaponry he had. Normally gun smuggling of this magnitude would have fallen to ATF or maybe even Homeland Security depending on whether the guns originated from another country or not. But, since Bernard might be organized crime, it fell under our purview. Besides, we had no clue as to the extent of his inventory when we’d started the investigation.

  There was everything from rocket launchers to armor piercing rounds to fully automatic weapons. Scary shit.

  I collected myself for the fight ahead before giving the signal. “Yes, this is everything I wanted.”

  Even before the last words crossed my lips, the two entrances were busted down and SWAT poured in. In a flash, I pulled out my hidden Beretta PX4 Storm and was on Bernard before he could even realize what was happening.

  “You bitch,” he spat at me as I disarmed him. “You fucking bitch.”

  “Sticks and stones, Bernard.” I rolled my eyes. Criminals weren’t known for their inventive insults. After I secured him, I started over to Frank to give orders. Less than five feet away, I saw Bernard break the cuffs. His hands had shifted into claws. We had no intelligence that any of them were lycanthropes. I screamed, “Shifters.”

  Frank turned to look at me as Bernard reached to tear out his throat. I leapt to knock Frank down, feeling razor sharp claws tearing into my shoulder and back. Before we even hit the ground, I was unloading my clip into the man’s chest. When I saw that he wasn’t going down after three bullets, I switched to head shots and it took the other fourteen rounds. I hadn’t wanted to kill Bernard, but protecting my team came first.

  I was obviously in shock because, after landing on Frank, I tried to get back up but couldn’t. I was stunned as to why my body didn’t seem to work. Frank gently slid out from underneath me before yelling for the paramedics.

  “God, Sera,” Frank cried out. “Don’t you die on me, Sera. What the fuck were you thinking?”

  “I couldn’t let him tear out your throat,” I answered, trying to shrug him off me. “I’m fine, let me up.”

  “You are not fine!” Frank bellowed, his dark eyes wide. “Your entire back is shredded. Just stay still goddammit! Help’s coming, just hold on.”

  “Frank, you’re being a drama queen again,” I started to argue, but then the pain hit me. Sometimes adrenaline wore off at the wrong time and shock didn’t cover it. “Okay, I take that back, maybe you’re not.”

  “No, I’m not, Sera,” he whispered before shouting more orders to the men around us. I tried to pay attention, just to make sure they were the orders I wanted. After a few moments, I didn’t seem to care anymore. Darkness swarmed me, cutting out the dim lighting of the warehouse, even as I felt myself being lifted and laid down on something soft. The last thing I heard was Frank shouting my name.

  * * * *

  The sun must have come up because suddenly the room was too bright for sleep. I groaned and tried to roll over, but the sharp pain radiating through my back made me hiss and freeze. That got me wide awake. Opening my eyes, I looked around the room. It took a few moments for it to sink in where I was.

  A hospital.

  I found the call button by my right hand without having to move much.

  While I waited, I maneuvered enough to be able to face the door. It was painful, both sharp and dull at the same time in different areas. A few deep breaths and I was able to roll over anyways.

  Then I started looking more closely at my surroundings. Why were there iron bars on the windows and door? The walls of the room were white as was the tile, and it was also incredibly barren for a normal hospital room. There wasn’t even a tray for food or a chair for guests. Not that I had any, but most rooms had one.

  Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. This wasn’t a normal hospital. I was in a paranormal hospital.

  Oh hell no!

  When paranormals had come out to the general public, even if it hadn’t been by choice, the government scrambled to set up designated places for non-humans. Paranormal hospitals, some schools, and any place humans would be nervous interacting with supernatural beings were a few of the most prevalent example
s. It was somewhat shady to me at times, separating them as if there was an agenda, but it seemed to help most people accept there was more out there than they had ever known if they still felt safe in the places they needed to.

  I started panicking then, my chest tightening with anxiety. I had worked in law enforcement all my adult life, and I knew with crystal clear certainty, after the shifter hospital came safe houses.

  That was where they threw newly turned vampires and shape-shifters of all kinds until they learned to control themselves. They could be quite dangerous when they first turned or thirsted for blood. It wasn’t that it was ever intentional, but, when a person experienced mind-numbing pain, the natural tendency was to lash out. And, when those limbs suddenly had claws, it led to massive injuries for anyone around.

  There was no fucking way I was going to one of those places! It took me a while, but I was finally able to sit up and unhook myself from the IV they had in my forearm. Just as I was trying to get out of the bed, the door opened. I glanced over, feeling somewhat guilty that I’d been caught trying to escape. Somewhat—not really though.

  “Thomas, get your ass back in bed,” Brian Havers, my boss, barked at me as he came closer. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere.” He was using his best in deep shit look and his full six-six height to try to intimidate me. Havers was forgetting one thing… Nothing scared me worse than the possibility of getting thrown in a shifter safe house.

 

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